(if not visible, please log in at TOP right (or register to get a login pass).

Helping Others

H. Clay Williams, a Business English teacher at Henan Institute of Engineering, is also a Toastmaster from Yellow River Toastmasters (Club # 2209647, Dist # 85, at Zhengzhou University) He delivered the following moving speech and got the CHAMPION from China Toastmasters Speech Contest in Beijing in May).

He will also give this speech at the semi-finals of the World Speech Championship in August in America (Cincinnati, Ohio) representing the district in China~ Let’s wish him all the best!!friendshipet@gmail.com

Helping Others

All of us in this room are striving to become successful in
life … this is one reason we join ToastMasters … it is my dream, that ‘ALL’ of
us find ways to ‘help others’ along the way to our success!

If you decide to help others there are four words you should
remember: "Unexpected”, "Unknown”, "Way out of your Way” & "Treasure”To help you understand this I
want to tell you a true story about [point] this box and how it taught me about these
four points!

This box is over nine years old so we have to travel back in
time to a very cold winter evening on November 6th,
2003 in GongYi City … my wife and I had
just set up an experimental classroom in our home and we had middle school
students arriving for special classes … one of my wife’s student was late and
Peter ran up to my wife and said, "Teacher, teacher … do you want me to take
you to see the baby in the box downstairs?”

This was "Unexpected”,
our first point … sometimes helping others will be inconvenient and will
interrupt our schedule … but to not help in the case of a baby could have very bad consequences … of course my
wife chose to help and that evening forever changed our life!

The next point is "Unknowns”… as my wife left with Peter neither she or I knew what would happen … but many
times when you truly help others there will be many unknowns … when they
arrived at the gate to our community a group of local ladies were surrounding a
box [point] in the street … my wife could see a very small newborn baby wrapped
in blankets in the box … it was so cold with a light freezing rain coming down
which would later turn to snow.

My wife convinced the ladies to let her take the box
upstairs so the baby would be out of the cold … so they all came to our friends
warm apartment … my wife knew that many abandoned babies have medical problems
so she wanted to check and took the baby out of the box and unwrapped the
newborn child … what the ladies saw caused many to run horrified out of the
home … the baby had a hole in the belly and most of the small intestines were
outside of the body … this was a very serious birth defect.

At that time there were so many unknowns but we knew the
baby needed immediate medical attention or the child would die … my wife called
me and told me the situation … our friends wife brought clean bandages so we
could protect the intestines and take the baby to the hospital

One of the elder ladies in the community looked at my wife
and with tears in her eyes told my wife she would help us any way she could if
my wife would help this baby … that was all the encouragement my wife needed.

Helping others will many times take you "way out of your way” … We took baby to the GongYi People’s
Hospital … there my wife gave her the name Xiaoqing for the hospital records … but
they did not have any surgeons trained in the surgery she needed … They told us
we would have to go to the Children’s Hospital in Zhengzhou.

My friend Dr. Wu Ying Chen traveled with us and helped us find
a taxi that was willing to cross the Song mountains in the snow that was
already falling … my wife wore a very big coat so she could keep Xiaoqing close
to her body to stay warm and used a small flashlight to keep a check on the
baby during the long and dangerous trip … the taxi driver was a very good
driver and our car only slid a few times as we crossed the mountain in the snow
… we went way out of our way but we finally arrived at the children’s hospital.

The doctors knew exactly what the problem was and went to
work getting Xiaoqing under bili-lights and started an IV to hydrate our little
one … all this was done before we even talked about money … even thought we
were ‘way out of our way’ we were right where we should be to keep Xiaoqing
alive.

Xiaoqing had her first major surgery when she was 19 ½ hours
old … the surgery was successful … four days later she had to have another
major surgery and they thought she would die … I believed she would live and
encouraged the doctors to continue treating her … of course she did live, and
17 days later we were approved to care for her at our home with the permission
of the government and the Zhengzhou orphanage.

My last point is the word ‘Treasure’ … you can not buy the good feeling that you have when
you truly help another person in a positive way … we don’t ask for anything in
return from the folks we help … our satisfaction and treasure comes from the
feeling we have from having given a person a chance at life!

Xiaoqing is a clear example of this treasure, in that now
she is my legal adopted daughter and her birth defects were corrected by good
surgery in the first days of her life …
it all started with this box … and now (bring the picture out of the box)
Xiaoqing has celebrated her ninth birthday and is a very bright primary school
student and the love of my life!

So remember, sometimes the opportunity to help others will
happen at "UNEXPECTED times” … "There will be many UNKNOWNS” … sometimes it
will take you "WAY OUT OF YOUR WAY” … but, if you are willing to help others,
the "TREASURES” are so worth your trouble, time & money!

Just do it! It’s the right thing to do!

=====================================================================

This speech was tweaked a lot to make it a winning speech in
the finals … my team and many other friends gave wonderful advice about
possible changes … the tweaks I made worked And I just used one image in the
attached PPT program and had it flash up when I talked about treasure at the
end of my speech … I hear the visual aid had a very powerful effect.

Go here for information on the Charity my wife and I founded
back in 2006 as a result of seeing the great need of Special Needs Orphans in China.

www.swallowsnestzz.org

you can email me at friendshipet@gmail.com

Thank you for finding ways to "Help Others”

Blessings,

H. Clay Williams

Comments

Your name*

Post Comment*Verification code*...

18 09, 13 13:29

posted by: Clay Williams

I did not win the World Championship in Cincinnati, but I was able to present my speech in the semifinals representing North & East China District 85 ... what a wonderful experience and opportunity to meet 89 other Toastmasters who had also won their district contest from all over the world ... I learned a lot from my first international speech contest and I will be back!

Nine sections of contestants resulted in one winner from each section that would be part of the 9 contestants for the World Champion of Public Speaking ... what an awesome opportunity and I encourage all my fellow Toastmasters, specifically in Zhengzhou, to entry the club level contest and continue on to become the next champion for District 85 in China! ... You can do it!

My advice is to develop two wonderful speeches that engage the audience ... if they laugh, cry and really take part in your speech you might just be the first from Henan to win the World Championship of Public Speaking ... you can use the speech you used in District 85 at the international semifinals ... but if you win you have about one day to get ready for the final competition which requires a new speech ... so after you start winning the club and area contest you need to go ahead and start developing your 2nd winning speech.